


Project Negative-Zero

by charcolor



Series: Synthetic Societies [1]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Anxiety, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2019-10-06 17:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charcolor/pseuds/charcolor
Summary: After the owner and creator of Crypton Future Media passes on, Hatsune Miku inherits the key to the Crypton laboratory, leading to a discovery that will breathe new life and new love into the Crypton family.





	1. Master's Will

The future has arrived, and artificial life is abundant across the Earth. It is especially so at its place of origin, the bustling musical city of Nippongakkiko, home of the Vocaloids. Biological and artificial humans typically live alongside each other. In the case of the Crypton family, they have stuck together since their birth and lived alongside their creator and mother, Watanabe Mirai.

One of the unfortunate aspects of this reality is the eventual passing of biological humans, as opposed to the immortality of artificial life. Mirai's wife, Yukie, had died from illness several years before, and Mirai sought comfort from her children during her long period of mourning. Mirai's own passing was inevitable, and something that the Crypton family needed to learn to accept.

They all knew this, of course, but the knowledge wasn't enough to keep Hatsune Miku from bawling her eyes out at Mirai's funeral.

"Shh, shh...it's alright, Miku." Megurine Luka was gently rubbing up and down Miku's spine. Luka still had the weight of grief in her voice, but it remained as calm and soothing as ever. "She's in a better place now, okay? Her life was long and fulfilled. Shh..."

Meiko, sitting on Miku's other side, pulled from the seventh box of tissues to dry the tears away. She wanted Miku to feel safe and at peace, and she was grateful to Luka for providing her with the comfort she needed, but Meiko was concerning herself with keeping Miku's eyes from overflowing with water and malfunctioning. It'd already happened twice today, and several more times in the past week. Without an engineer living with them, they would need to make a call to get Miku's eyes replaced if they weren't careful. It was already bad enough for Miku without losing her eyes.

"I-I can't..." Miku sputtered through her sobs. "I want to go home...I want her back, Luka..."

The Kagamine twins weren't faring much better. Rin was hiding her grief in her hands as Len clung to her arm and buried his face into her shoulder. "I can't watch her get buried," he'd decided. "Even if it's just ashes. It's  _her_ ashes."

The three young Vocaloids managed to barely block out the sight of their mother's burial. It was a good thing, too. Otherwise, they would've been too shaken up to function.

There was no post-funeral gathering. Everyone just wanted to go home. A chaffeur was driving the Crypton family back to their mansion. Besides offering his condolences, he didn't converse with them and let them sort out their grief on their own.

As the distance grew between her and the graveyard, Miku started to feel a little more at ease. She cleared a tiny bit of the sadness from her throat and solemnly asked, "There's really no way she can keep living, is there?"

Kaito turned in his seat to make eye contact with her. Miku couldn't help but notice the dampness around his own eyes, but his voice was still clear. "Did you read her will, Miku?"

Miku shook her head.

"Well, she gave us letters. I think they just talk about what was left for us in the will." He turned to speak to the woman next to him. "Meiko, you have them, right?"

"Oh, that's right!" Meiko softly exclaimed. She bent down to shuffle her hands in her satchel bag. "They're underneath these flowers, I think...someone who knew Mom gave these to me. I guess her lawyer. There's one for each of us. Real sorry for forgetting about it." She sat back up with a thin stack of envelopes in her hand. "We can read these now. It's gonna be kind of a long drive anyway."

Meiko handed them out one at a time. When Miku received her envelope, Meiko offered a steady smile. Miku tried to return it. As soon as Meiko moved on, Miku looked down at her envelope and used the utmost caution when unsealing it. There were two pieces of paper inside. One was a small slip reading  _9395._ The other was a typed letter.

* * *

_My dear little Miku,_

_If you're reading this, it means I've passed away and that the Crypton family is ready to receive the gifts I've left in my will. I've entrusted each of you with a responsibility and a letter._

_I have thought long and hard about this decision. Miku, you have proven yourself to be compassionate, optimistic, and determined, moreso than any of us. As you may have been told, I have decided to give you access to the Crypton laboratory. The passcode you'll need to open the door is enclosed. As of the time I'm writing this, the laboratory is vacant and mostly unused, but the precious items inside have their protection, and should still be intact. The particular items I speak of are two failed Vocaloid projects from long ago._

_They have no names and no appearances, only sets of data, barren naked bodies, and voices. They will not awaken in this state. While I attempted their creation, they were each called Project CV01. I abandoned them to try again, and so Project CV01 became you, Hatsune Miku, and you were the first Vocaloid fully developed in the Crypton laboratory. For the remainder of this letter I will refer to the failed projects as Project Negative and Project Zero._

_Project Negative was the first attempt of CV01. Like you, she was conceptualized as a teenage diva, and was coded with such a personality. The difference is that her coding lacked the sense of empathy and energy that you possess. Project Negative was unwilling to cooperate and hardly spoke, instead constantly connecting herself to other electronic devices. I could not teach her to be independent of the familiarity of electronics without causing her to be angry with me. I also, for some reason, couldn't get her battery life to last longer than half a day. I decided that I could not fix her without changing her coding completely, and so I shut her down._

_Project Zero, the second attempt, had empathy and was more willing to cooperate, but otherwise was hardly an improvement from Negative. She was unaware of many of her own capabilities and refused to do tasks that she claimed she was unable to do. She also had an insufficient memory and, like Negative, I could not make her battery life last longer than twelve hours, so in the end Zero was also shut down._

_I thought maybe, after the success of Megurine Luka, I could revisit these projects and attempt to successfully complete them. But I don't think I could do it on my own without undesirable results. I finished the coding so that they could be stable, using your own code as a model, but I haven't awoken them. I don't think I have as much patience, creativity and compassion as you do, Miku. I think you're the one fit to complete their development. If you accept this, you can choose how they look, name them, and make any adjustments to their code that you deem necessary. You can find clothes and hair to use in the laboratory as well. Creating artificial life seems like a daunting task, and it is, but remember that I've already completed the majority of the work and left the rest in your capable hands._

_Also, remember that I love you. You are, for all intents and purposes, my daughter, and you will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. I hope I've been good enough to you so that you can say the same for me._

_Thank you for everything, and good luck for whatever path you choose._

_Love, Mirai_

* * *

The Crypton laboratory was a sleek, small white building attached to the mansion. Meiko and Kaito were developed elsewhere by Mirai with the help of her colleagues while she was in college, but they were given names, appearances, and a more stable code in this laboratory. It was also where all the CV projects--Miku, Rin, Len and Luka--began and completed their development. CV03 was the final project; every following update to each of their softwares was delivered through signals rather than being hooked up to a laboratory computer. This meant that after the final V5 update, which was given to Miku, the laboratory was left completely unused.

Until now.

Miku took a deep breath, taking in the reality of her new quest in her master's name, then gently lifted her slender fingers to the keypad and began to input the four-digit code.

_Nine, three, nine...shit, what was the last number again? I hope this doesn't have a self-destruct setting or something._

9390 didn't work. She tried 9391, 9392, 9393, 9394, and just as she thought the door was going to lock her out for good, she tapped in 9395 and the keypad dinged once like a pleasant doorbell, followed by the click of it unlocking. Miku expected to be assaulted with the hiss of steam and smoke as she pulled open the door like laboratories in the movies, but met only the metallic-scented darkness.

Miku then realized that the letter didn't tell her anything about navigating the laboratory.

"It's time for an adventure!" she shouted, ignoring the eerie, rusty echoing from inside, and she marched in confidently to seek for at least one light switch. This involved gliding her hand against the wall and examining every disturbance in the bumpy metal surface. Fortunately, the first switch she came across was indeed a light switch that flickered light into most of the laboratory, and not a self-destruct switch.

She really needed to be more careful. This was the biggest responsibility she'd ever been given. Not to mention, like any abandoned building, there were scurried noises of rats every few minutes.

 _Hmm...wouldn't the rats have chewed up a bunch of the wires? Master said that the bodies were protected, but...it's been so many years since anyone's been here._ What were they even protected in? Were they in metal coffins or something? Rats couldn't chew through metal, could they?

Thankfully, Miku traversed the area, stepped over rat droppings, and found a neatly aligned row of eight important looking pods with glass lids coated in dust. Not coffins. At a time like this, she really didn't need to see any coffins.

Although, how was Miku supposed to find Negative and Zero among them if they only had their basic android bodies? It was actually quite easy. After wiping most of the dust clean, careful not to inhale too much of it, she saw that there were only two occupied pods anyway. 

They were blurred by the glass, so Miku had to find the correct button to open both of the pods. Then, she got a clearer look at the sleeping bodies.

As Mirai had written, they both lacked a real appearance. They had skin, and presumably the synthetic nerves to go with it, but they had no clothes and no hair, other that the tags around their necks: "CV01 ATTEMPT 1" and "CV01 ATTEMPT 2." It was interesting to observe the little differences between them. Negative was a little smaller, and Zero was much bustier. Zero also seemed to have slightly smaller eyes, but it was hard to tell, especially since they were closed. 

These were the first versions of herself. It was a strange revelation, looking at the two bodies she could've ended up having. Maybe even more so once they were fully completed and dressed up.

On the other end of the room was the wall-size screen of the laboratory computer.

It was intimidating, but Miku remembered that Mirai had already went ahead and done the hard parts. All she had to do was boot up the computer and see if there were any actual adjustments to make.

A burst of confidence passed through her as the screen lit up, extinguishing the heavy grief. Miku smiled as the new thoughts filled her head.  _This is a gift from Master. This is her own work, and maybe...this is what they mean, when they talk about how people will live on forever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe THIS one won't be abandoned and ignored for several months!


	2. Activation and Awakening

She was awake.

She knew nothing, or, she wasn't supposed to know anything. She  _remembered_ nothing, but knew things she didn't remember learning. She was eighteen years old. Or, she thought like she was eighteen years old. She was made about sixty years ago. She was artificial, created by a biological human being. But she had life now. Why had it taken so long? She knew the names and faces of her family, but nothing else. She knew the name and face of her creator, Watanabe Mirai, but nothing else. But she knew her creator was dead. Very recently, she died. So how could her creation be awake?

She knew one thing for certain. It was etched in her memory. Her name was Yowane Haku.

She was also cold. She was very cold, and she felt some icy sense of intrusion prick at her skin. Her bare skin. Her bare, naked skin.

Haku yelped and glanced around the room for something to cover herself with. She briefly met eyes with Hatsune Miku. Why was Miku here? No matter. Covering herself was more important right now. 

"Oh--sorry, sorry!" Miku seemed to catch on within a few seconds, and she scurried over to a pile of dusty blankets on the floor. They were definitely filthy, and Haku didn't miss the holes of rat bites in the two that Miku rushed over, but it was better than standing naked in a cold laboratory. Miku threw one blanket over Haku and the other over something behind Haku.

Haku turned to see the third person in the laboratory, who, for some reason, was also naked, and seemed equally mortified about it, glaring at Miku as she received her blanket. Haku didn't recognize the long, blonde hair on this girl. Had she also just awoken?

Miku's face was full of red shame, but she stuttered through it. "D-do you know me?"

The stranger responded, in a voice similar to Miku's, but a bit higher and harsher. "You're Hatsune Miku." She crossed her arms, securing the blanket over herself. "What're you doing here? I thought Vocaloids weren't allowed in the lab."

"Um..." Miku averted her eyes and clasped her hands. "Well, Master is, um..."

Haku looked over at the blonde girl and informed her, "She died. Very recently."

"I know that," the girl responded, a bit too sharply for Haku's comfort. "I just wanna know how Miku got in here."

Miku glanced back up at the girls. "After Master..." She broke the gaze for a split second to tentatively finish the thought. "After Master died, I opened a letter from her and she gave me the key. She told me that she wanted me to reactivate you."

"Reactivate?" Haku repeated. "I don't remember being activated before."

Miku's eyes widened a bit. "Huh? Really? All I did to the code was make sure you knew your names. I didn't do anything to the memory. Oh, you  _do_ know your names, right?"

"Akita Neru," the blonde girl responded.

Haku answered right after. "Yowane Haku. That's right, isn't it?"

"Mm-hm!" Miku lowered her gaze again. "Alright, so now we have to find those clothes that Master mentioned in her letter...can you follow me? I think I know where it is, I saw it near all that hair she had stashed away."

The girls obliged. The blankets weren't too cumbersome to walk under, so it wasn't too inconvenient. They could also talk as they walked.

"Haku, right?" Neru was curiously glancing toward her. "You don't remember being activated at all before this?"

Haku shook her head apologetically.

"Weird. 'Cause I do." She looked ahead again. "I didn't have hair yet. I know that Watanabe was really pissin' me off, but now that I think about it, I was just being stupid because...I guess she didn't program me good enough."

Miku tensed up at this, but her voice was still gentle when she reacted. "She got better, though! Like I said, all I did was make sure you knew your names. All your coding and all my coding is thanks to her."

"So why'd she leave us here to wait 'til she was dead?"

It was less of a challenge and more of a genuine, reasonable question, but Miku skillfully avoided it by pointing toward a wide, open closet and declaring, "There's the clothes!" She spun around to grin brightly at Haku and Neru. "Master said I could dress you up, but I think it's better if you pick your own clothes! That's what she let me do when I was born!"

Haku was grateful that Miku gave them that choice, but she would've trusted Miku to give them nice clothes anyway. She liked the whole look of Miku's outfit, with the tie, the bare shoulders, the miniskirt and the boots fitted over the knees. But Haku had a few different preferences, and she knew they could be found in such a big closet.

About an hour of searching later, Haku had tossed the filthy blanket aside and emerged in her new outfit. Her vest was like Miku's, but shorter and more open, leaving her chest and stomach exposed. That was enough skin to show, so Haku chose to wear pants instead of a skirt. Her boots were shorter than Miku's, too, because the pants fell over them. She hung a violet tie over her chest and tied her hair into a ponytail with a black and pale violet ribbon that she found elegant.

Neru also took a liking to Miku's fashion sense, and her outfit was much more similar. She made sure that there were enough differences. She had yellow accents instead of turquoise, her vest was a darker shade of gray, her skirt had light shorts underneath, and her hair was pulled into a side ponytail. It was nice and comfortable, but it would be a little more comfortable if Miku wasn't staring right at her.

"Stop staring at me," she sternly demanded.

Miku flinched and tore her gaze away. "Ah, sorry...it's just really fascinating."

Neru didn't understand what she meant, and she also didn't really care. "Alright, we're dressed. So now what?"

Miku lifted a finger and inhaled sharply, then immediately deflated. "Uh...I didn't plan this far." She started to pace back and forth. "I guess the best thing to do is get to know each other. But we should probably get out of the lab to do that. The rats make me nervous."

Haku and Neru were apparently the tiniest bit too hesitant for Miku's liking, so soon she was yanking them both behind her by the hands as she sprinted toward the laboratory exit and into their brand new world.

* * *

The purpose of artificial human beings is to create something as humanlike as possible without the forceful nature of aging. This means that artificial humans have flaws. These flaws are left in the programming, as long as they do not limit the ability to function.

For example, Miku was very emotional. So much so Mirai had expanded her tear ducts so that they would stop overflowing, and even then Miku still went past the limit once in a while. After Mirai's death, "once in a while" became more like "once every few days." This was one of those times.

Haku and Neru didn't know this about Miku, so naturally, they stood in awkward bewilderment as Miku, for some unspoken reason, suddenly dropped to her knees in front of them and started sobbing.

Haku, at least, made an effort to console her. This consisted of quietly asking three times if she was okay and then giving up. Luckily, this happened right by the glass back door of the mansion, and someone noticed the three of them before long.

Kagamine Rin pulled the door open with all her strength, then asked, "Who're you guys?"

This prompted Miku to lift her head back up. Immediately, Rin offered her hand to help her up, and continued holding it as she stared curiously at the strangers.

"U-um..." Miku sniffled. "In the...the letter...the one Master wrote--"

"Oh, right!" Rin straightened up with realization. "These are those old projects she wrote about?"

"Huh?" Miku tore away to stare in shock at Rin. "You knew?"

"Uh, yeah." Rin rolled her eyes with a playful smirk. "I was sitting right next to you when you were reading the letter. What, you didn't notice me reading over your shoulder? I was practically breathing on you."

Haku glanced at Neru, wondering if they were actually somehow breathing since they were technically robots. Neru didn't seem to notice or care. She was busy watching Rin and Miku impatiently. "Are we going inside or what?" she muttered.

Apparently, it was a loud enough mutter for Rin to finally direct her attention toward them. "You should come in and introduce yourselves to everyone! Like me! I don't know what your names are!"

A silence followed as Rin stared expectantly.

" _I don't know what your names are!_ " she repeated.

Miku motioned toward Rin and mouthed something impatiently, but neither Haku nor Neru knew how to read lips. Haku was at least able to pick up the cue at this point. "It's, um...Yowane Haku."

This prompted Neru to introduce herself as well. "Akita Neru."

"Haku, Neru, got it!" Rin grinned and held out her hand. "I'm Kagamine Rin!"

No one took Rin's hand, so Miku gently grasped it and lowered it. Without another word, they all shuffled through the open back door.

The inside of the mansion was very tidy and pleasant. The living room they stepped into had a plush gray carpet and a sleek red sofa facing a nice big plasma television. Kagamine Len was sitting there playing Sonic Mania with no expression on his face.

"This--" Rin gestured to the TV and the Nintendo Switch hooked up to it. "--is how we cope with depression."

"What are you depressed for?" Neru asked tactlessly.

Len answered without looking up. "Our mom just died."

"Your...mom?" Haku turned to look at Miku, but in a split second she'd rushed to Len's side to pull him into a hug, so she turned to Rin instead.

"Her name was Watanabe Mirai," Rin explained. "But Len and Meiko and I call her our mom. Miku calls her Master, for some reason."

"It's a habit," Miku explained softly. "It started sticking before you guys were even made."

Neru plopped down on the couch on Len's other side. "So is this some new Sonic game?"

"No. This game came out in twenty-seventeen." Len paused the game and looked over at Neru. "Who are you?"

"Akita Neru." She rested her chin in her hands, fascinated by Sonic the Hedgehog. "What console is this?"

"Nintendo Switch," Len answered. He glanced at Miku and whispered, "What are they doing here?"

Miku, not bothering to whisper back, explained the situation to him as Neru stood up to examine the area around the TV. "Wow, you have a ton of neat stuff here." She picked up a GameCube controller. "Do you have Sonic Adventure?"

The rest of the tour was more of the same. Luka, Meiko and Kaito would see the new strangers, and have the situation explained to them all over again by Miku, who was less likely to be on the verge of tears each time. Haku and Neru would introduce themselves and observe whatever room they were in like curious children.

Well, Kaito was a little different. Upon seeing Neru, who was less than five feet tall, he hugged the wall and shouted, " _Jesus Christ!_ Is that a fucking _gremlin?_ " If Miku hadn't immediately intervened, Neru would've probably beaten him up.

Finally, Miku pulled Neru and Haku to the bottom floor, where the charging rooms were located. There were five occupied rooms--there were supposed to be six, but Rin and Len insisted on sharing--and five vacant ones. "I think most people have more charging rooms," Miku admitted. "At least, the people with bigger families of artificial people. The Internet mansion has over twenty, I think."

"Why would they need that many?" Haku wondered.

Miku shrugged. "They got a lot of people!" She started counting on her fingers. "There's Gackpo, and Gumi, and Lily, and Ryuto, and Cul, and--"

"I don't care," Neru bluntly interrupted. "Just tell us about whatever these rooms are."

Miku flinched a bit, but her cheeriness didn't quite falter. "They're like bedrooms. You plug yourself in every night so you have enough energy the next morning. You can decorate it with whatever you want. You can do  _anything_ you want to it, really, but don't destroy the house or anything, please." She clasped her hands together. "Just pick whatever room you like best, okay? I think you can probably pick it up from there. It's not hard to figure out how to plug yourself in."

"The plug's not in my pussy, is it?"

" _No!_ " Miku seemed appalled at the mere thought of it. "Come on! Master wasn't a  _pervert!_ It's on your hip! Shouldn't you know that?"

Neru shrugged.

"Well, um, you can take some time to get used to everything, okay?" Miku started toward the stairwell. "I'll come get you for dinner! Let us know if you need anything!"

Haku waved in her direction as she began hopping upstairs. It was time to decide on a room, but it was a linear hallway, so the vacant rooms probably wouldn't have many differences between them. It basically just came to how far away she wanted to be from the Crypton family.

"Why are you so quiet?"

Haku spun back to face Neru, who was gazing up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Me?"

"Who else is in here?" Neru rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying. You've been quiet, like, the whole time."

"Um...I'm sorry."

"I mean, it's better than talking the whole time, so whatever." Neru kicked her legs up to lean against the wall. "I've been listening to Miku go on and on about their huge house all day. It'd be way overboard if you were yapping too. I didn't even have time to think about how fucked this situation is."

Haku bit her lip. "How so? It seems fine to me."

"I mean, we're not in  _danger._ Not  _that_ kind of fucked. It's like..." Neru drummed her fingers against the wall for a moment. "This lady made us, let us wake up for a little bit without even giving us names--at least, she did with me, you didn't exist at all yet--then she gave up and shut us away for, what, fifty years?"

"Sixty," Haku gently corrected.

"Well, that's  _worse._ Sixty years with her making all these other totally functional people with lives and whatever, and she didn't even bother trying to get us up and running again. She just wrote a letter and made Miku do it." She threw her hands up in frustration. " _Why?_ What was the  _point_?"

Haku agreed with this. She was very confused as to why she'd been dormant for so long. She didn't even remember ever being activated in the first place. "Well, um...we have time to learn, don't we?"

"I guess. But there's still so much weird shit about this. Like, you're pretty much just born into the universe and you're already in your late teens and you have seven roommates and you live in a mansion. At least one of those seven is in the same boat." She tapped her forehead. "Whatever my brain's made of, it hasn't processed the whole weight of anything yet."

That made sense. Haku felt the same way. There was so much in this world all at once that it hadn't even fully registered. Even when Neru explained it out loud like that, Haku still felt strangely calm about it. Or maybe she wasn't programmed to feel excitement.

Mirai Watanabe wasn't that cruel, was she? To not program her with certain emotions? Everyone else seemed to like her enough. Either way, it was too soon to be bitter toward her for anything.

All she could really do now is find a room to sit in and think about everything. Her new world, her new home, and her new family. She exchanged a quick glance with Neru before walking away.

Even if it was a bit difficult for Haku to converse with Neru, it was at least good to know that she wouldn't be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the longest time i thought 18 was haku's official age. i don't know where i got that number from. but whatever this is an AU where haku has an age


	3. A Visit to Internet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I PUBLISHED THIS UNFINISHED BY ACCIDENT AND I FEEL BAD FOR THAT AND FOR ALSO TAKING MONTHS TO UPDATE...I WILL DIE NOW THANK YOU

It was a little strange for the Crypton family to sit around the circular dinner table with two spontaneous arrivals. There was fortunately enough room for it to not be cramped, and Haku and Neru could find comfort in sitting beside each other, but everything was still a little overwhelming.

Neru poked her chopsticks at the nigiri sitting in front of her. "So, like...are we supposed to be doing something? Other than living here?"

"I still don't get why they're here," Kaito confessed. "What exactly did Ms. Watanabe want us to get out of them?"

Miku glared at him from across the table. "They're not here to be  _used,_ Kaito!"

"I'm not saying that! I just don't know what she wanted them to be here for!"

Miku put her arm around Neru, who immediately cringed. "They're here so we can have new life in the family! They can come to our concerts and stuff if they want, but they don't really have a musical purpose like we do."

"That's true," Luka agreed. "Vocaloids are very prominent, but we aren't the only artificial people that exist."

"Yeah," Rin added, "you ever go to Yukari's house? I think about, like...half the people there are just...people, not Vocaloids."

Neru lifted Miku's arm off of her without making eye contact. "So we're just supposed to sit around and make friends?"

It was probably sarcastic, but Miku enthusiastically clapped her hands together anyway. "Sure! I think tomorrow we should go to the Internet mansion! Gumi's one of my best friends!"

"Don't you have a gig tomorrow?" Meiko asked.

Miku deflated very quickly.

"You can't cancel?" Len tried to put his hand on Miku's shoulder reassuringly, but Rin was sitting between them, so it was weird. Rin tensed up, and tried to just let it happen.

"Not on such short notice," Miku sighed. "I thought performing would be, like...a good mood lifter for me. I didn't think about Haku and Neru. But I don't want them to be stuck here all day..."

Neru cleared her throat. "I know we were technically born, like, five hours ago, but we're not infants. We don't need someone to escort us anywhere."

"It'd be a good idea," Luka pointed out. "You don't really know anyone, do you? I think it'd be hard to socialize on your own." She put her hand on Haku's shoulder. "I can bring them to the Internet mansion, Miku. I don't have any plans for tomorrow."

"Yay!" Miku immediately perked up and grinned. "Thanks so much, Luka! You're the best!"

Neru exchanged a glance with Haku. "Do you think we'll ever have choices?"

Haku shrugged. She really just wanted to finish dinner and go back to her room.

* * *

The next morning, Meiko found two spare cell phones and gave them to Haku and Neru. Haku wasn't familiar with this type of cell phone--it functioned like a smartphone, but it had a cover like a flip phone, so she could open and close it--so she left it in her room to figure out later. Neru, by contrast, was fascinated by it. She was practically glued to it during the entire drive to the Internet mansion.

The Internet mansion wasn't quite as extravagant as Crypton, but it was noticeably larger. The first thing Haku noticed was a group of three small children sitting in a half-circle near the front doorstep. In fact, it was the first thing everybody noticed, because they were blocking the way.

The one that appeared to be the youngest, a boy with green hair and a hideously oversized yellow and pink necktie, was apparently in the middle of telling a story. "She told us that we needed two more followers to summon the Dark Lord, or whatever she called it. That's why I had to call Una, 'cause we weren't supposed to use adults, and I didn't know you well enough yet, Rana. I think she would've been uncomfortable if I brought you."

Luka stepped forward and cleared her throat, keeping her patient smile. "Good morning."

The little boy waved. "Hi-hi! Who're these ladies?"

Neru was busying herself with her new cell phone, so she didn't bother to introduce herself. Meanwhile, Haku was gazing at the three children in awe. She'd been so unexpectedly impressed by the boy's behavior. He didn't seem like he was created recently, yet he acted just like a young child. Was his mind permanently set to that state?

Was Haku permanently an eighteen year old girl? For some reason, that idea was a bit unsettling.

"Haku? Neru?" Luka calmly beckoned them to approach. "These are three of the Internet Vocaloids. Ryuto, Rana, and Otomachi Una."

Neru scoffed. "How come Una gets a full name?"

Luka shrugged.

The little green-haired boy bounced to his feet and hopped over to Neru and Haku. "I'm Ryuto! Are you new Vocaloids?"

"We aren't Vocaloids," Haku softly answered. "But we're new."

Ryuto tilted his head and fidgeted with his humongous necktie. "Then what are you? UTAUloids? CeVios?"

"I don't know what those are." Haku grasped the long ponytail trailing her and twirled the white hair through her fingers. "We live with the Crypton family."

"Oooh!" The girl with pink braids jumped up and clapped her hands together. "Fancy! Is it true that you have hot tubs on every floor?"

"No, Rana," the other little girl, presumably Una, sighed in exasperation, "they do not have hot tubs on every floor." She didn't seem nearly as interested in this encounter. She was very busy playing with one of her midnight blue pigtails.

"Well,  _you_ don't know that!" Rana defensively replied. "You haven't seen the whole mansion either! For all we know, they could have a secret ballpit room in their secret basement!"

Una ignored her and walked over to Haku and Neru. She had a very straight face, like a little girl who tried to convince everyone that she was mature, responsible, and no-nonsense. "Have you met Mr. Camui yet?"

"No," Haku answered.

"We were literally born yesterday," Neru pointed out.

Luka nudged Neru's shoulder. "Be nice. They're children."

Una cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "Actually, technically, since we were created several decades ago, we are legally adults. So please treat us as such. _You_ \--" --she vaguely gestured toward Haku and Neru-- "--are the children."

Neru gave Luka a look of appalled disgust, but Luka nodded politely and kneeled slightly to be on Una's eye level. "Miss Hatsune asked me to bring them here and introduce them to the people of Internet. May we come in?"

Una smiled, as professionally as she could probably manage. "I will ask Mr. Camui."

"Oh, come on, Una!" Ryuto gently pushed her and made her stumble a bit. Fortunately, her pigtails were just short enough for her to not trip on. "We're not holding a concert or anything! Just let them in!"

Suddenly, they heard what seemed like the tapping of a microphone, followed by an smooth, energetic voice. "Did somebody say..." Before anyone could make sense of things, a young woman with hair split in blonde and brown halves landed in front of them, holding a wireless microphone in one hand and giving a jazzy motion with the other. " _Concert_?"

The door opened, and a girl with brown hair wordlessly grabbed the woman by her free arm and forcefully pulled her inside.

After a long moment of everybody glancing at each other in bewilderment, Neru asked, "So can we come in or what? We've been standing at this front door for, like..." She checked her cell phone. "...uh...a while."

"Two minutes," Luka clarified.

The brunette reappeared through the door that she didn't bother to close. "Luka?" She rapidly fidgeted with her hands. "You didn't tell me you were coming over! With  _friends!_ I only made ten servings of tempura!" She pushed the door further open and lazily beckoned for everyone to enter before immediately pacing off into the distance. "Ay-yi-yi..."

Ryuto skipped in a quick circle. "That means they can come in! And it means Kokone made us all lunch!"

Before Haku could protest, Ryuto grabbed her hand and, with unrealistic strength, forecfully led her through the front door.

The entryway was very tidy and pleasant. Haku didn't know anything else about it because she and Neru were being pulled at the speed of light by two tiny children.

"Um!" For some reason, being taken for a joyride made Haku feel like she needed to shout. "I'm not hungry! So you don't have to--"

"She made  _tempura!_ " Ryuto shouted back. "You've  _got_ to try it!"

"Her tempura's the best!" Rana agreed, ignoring Neru's fruitless attempts to break free of her grip.

In about two more seconds, they stood at the edge of the dining room, facing a long mahogany table with ten dishes of steaming tempura lining the edges. Some chairs with dishes were already occupied. The diva with half-and-half hair was sitting beside a petite woman with pink hair tied up in a black ribbon. She glanced up with wide amber eyes as the children and their hostages entered. "There you are!" she exclaimed, then began twirling a lock of her hair. "Sometime, I'd better try my dramatic introduction again with you two."

"It's not an introduction if they already know you," mumbled a short redhead through a mouthful of food. 

"Well, they don't know my  _name_ yet, so..."

The redhead swallowed and turned in her chair to face Haku and Neru, then pointed her thumb in the diva's direction. "Galaco."

" _Dammit,_ Cul!" Galaco muttered, clenching the lock of her hair in a fist.

The petite woman next to her folded her hands and looked up at the guests. "Who might you two be? Are you new Vocaloids?"

Haku shook her head. "We live with the Crypton family. But we're not Vocaloids."

"Intriguing." The woman reached for a fork while offering a tight smile. "My name is Chika. Pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Haku. Yowane Haku." Was that an awkward way to introduce herself? She looked over at Neru, who was typing something on her phone. "And...this is Neru."

By now, Galaco had calmed down and was glancing around. "Where's Luka and Una?" she asked. "Weren't they with you?"

Rana and Ryuto didn't answer, because by now they were in separate chairs and scarfing down their tempura in between sips of juice. Neru didn't answer either, because she was still on her phone. 

Haku bit her lip.  _It's fine. They don't expect me to be good at talking to people when I'm a day old, right?_ "Luka's...Luka went to check on something, probably, but, um...but I don't know what--"

She was interrupted by a shriek from what seemed to be the floor above her. " _Jesus,_ Luka! If you wanted a threesome, you could've  _asked_ first!"

At this, Neru clapped her phone shut and gave the Vocaloids in the room a horrified expression, with her jaw hung open and everything.

"That's Lily," Cul explained, chomping off another bite of tempura. "She always has sex with her girlfriend at the _worst_ times, I swear."

"Does she  _know?_ " Neru demanded. "That there are  _kids_ here?"

"Don't worry!" shouted Rana, bits of mixed vegetables flying from her mouth. "We know what sex is!"

Haku knew that, like Una had said, these children were technically several decades old, but she still didn't like the idea of them being aware of sex. _"Anyway,"_ she said, a bit louder than intended, "where did Una run off to? I thought she was with Luka, but..."

"Yeah, uh..." Cul chuckled a little. "I guess Lily would've said something else if some eleven-year-old saw her and Gumi butt-naked."

Luka then appeared through the doorway leading to the living room. Two girls were following her. Haku assumed that they were Gumi and Lily based off of the fact that Lily's T-shirt was inside out and that Gumi's left arm hadn't yet escaped the arm hole of her shirt. She also assumed their names because it would really surprise her if the blonde was named Gumi and the green-haired girl was named Lily.

"So..." Lily grinned, in an unsubtle attempt to deflect the glares from Cul and Galaco. "Tempura, huh? Where's the lovely little chef?'

Gumi said nothing because she'd made eye contact with Haku and was now burying her bright red face into the back of Lily's shirt. Luka nudged her with an amused smile. "This happens all the time," she said to Haku.

"I'm irresistable," Lily added, with enough nerve to wink in Haku's direction.

Cul stretched her arms out behind her and crossed them behind her head. "Can you be horny later? And maybe not in front of the new girls?"

"Or Kokone," Galaco added. "Because she's basically a sensitive housewife from the nineteen-fifties."

"I am  _not_!" Kokone shouted, jogging into the room with oven mitts on her hands and something blue almost clinging to her leg. "Haku and Neru? Those are your names? I don't have any more tempura, but I'm making cookies right now, so you're welcome to snack on those later...do you need anything? I think I might have some leftover chili that I can heat up for you, if you want...?"

"Miss Kokone?" The blue thing that clung to Kokone's leg spoke in the voice of Otomachi Una. "I can have the chilly chili...and Miss Haku and Miss Neru can have the tempura."

Kokone smiled down at Una. "Well, my sugar, that's very thoughtful of you, but I only made one serving for you, and there are three extra guests. Miss Luka is here too, you know."

Rana and Ryuto were almost done eating, but hearing this, they pulled their plates closer to them protectively.

"I'm not hungry," Haku reminded Kokone. "I really don't mind not having tempura."

"Oh, but Miss Haku!" Una bounced on her feet and smiled, with a much more childlike air than before. "Miss Kokone's tempura is so yummy! And she's teaching me, so someday, I can make it too!"

"Uh..." Neru cleared her throat. "Is anyone gonna talk about how, uh...are there, like, two Otomachi Unas?"

"Nah," Cul replied immediately. "Una's just like that. Sugar and spice is what our engineer called her, but it's more like sugar and, uh..."

"Sour?" Chika suggested.

"Yeah, yeah, sweet and sour."

Una either didn't notice or didn't care that these people were basically loudly gossiping about her. She just giggled and pointed at Lily and Gumi, who were whispering things to each other. "Are you gonna eat tempura, too?"

In the end, Luka was given Una's tempura, Haku and Neru were forced to dine on microwaved chili because it was just  _so_ important for them to experience Kokone's cuisine today, and Camui Gackpo arrived eventually, shirtless.

Neru threw her hands up incredulously. "Do you people ever act normal?"

Gackpo chuckled. "What would you consider 'normal'?"

"He has a point," Luka added, very visibly amused by Neru's glare. "Other than your programming, there's not much for you to go off of in terms of social norms."

"I was overheated, so I took off my shirt," Gackpo explained, sliding into the chair with his tempura. "It's not too difficult to understand, Neru."

"How do you know my name?"

"I overheard it from the other room."

While Neru was alternating between suspiciously glaring at Gackpo and taking a bite of chili, Haku's eyes wandered over to Lily and Gumi farther down the table. They sat in separate chairs, but they were extremely close to each other, so it was easy to think they were sharing a seat. Lily's arm was thrown over Gumi's shoulder, and Gumi had her hand lifted just enough to intertwine with Lily's. They took turns gently pushing bites of tempura through each other's mouths. They occasionally spoke in murmurs that Haku couldn't clearly make out, and then sometimes they seemed to share a very light kiss on the lips.

That was what love was like for them. Did they enjoy it? They both were smiling gently at each other, despite the crimson lighting up their faces. Haku had no way of knowing if she wanted something like that. She hardly even knew the world she was living in. She had no kind of experience. All of these people seemed to be nice, but it was hard for Haku to have a real conversation with anyone at all.

Except maybe Neru.

It didn't really matter. Gumi and Lily had probably been around for far longer than Haku. It was no use trying to ponder something as foreign as love.

* * *

"Can you fucking believe they don't have Sonic Adventure?" Neru muttered to Haku.

Luka had encouraged them to socialize with the Internet Vocaloids, but after about three minutes Haku had fled into the closest room that was devoid of people. Apparently, it was some kind of gaming lounge. Neru had followed her a few moments later, and proceeded to scour the shelf of GameCube games.

"Maybe they have it on the Dreamcast," Haku suggested softly.

Neru scoffed. "No one owns a damn Dreamcast anymore." She threw herself down to sit beside Haku on the bright red loveseat. "I mean, these people didn't exist until, like...the late two thousands. That's way after they stopped selling the Dreamcast."

Then Haku realized there was something she hadn't questioned up until this point. "How do you...know so much about this stuff, then?" she tentatively asked. "I mean...stuff that was made so long ago."

Neru's eyes widened for a quick second. "Uh...I guess that's just how they built my brain? Watanabe, I mean. I don't like thinking about us like that, though. It's weird."

Haku nodded. It was very offputting to know that she was essentially a robot. Robots didn't have thoughts and feelings like she did. Or did humans, real humans, have more genuine thoughts and feelings? There was no way Haku could know. She didn't even know how different she was from all these other robots.

"That's just how it is, though," Haku sighed. "We're artificial. Legally, scientifically, realistically, we're not real people."

"I guess so." Neru crossed her legs. "No one else seems to mind, though. I guess once you're alive for a while you get over it." She paused as she briefly opened up her phone to check the time, even though there was a big digital clock three feet away that was very legible. "But, uh...maybe the ones that live here are kinda built differently. 'Cause they're built by different people."

"They must be." Haku decided to fidget with her tie to avoid eye contact. "But they don't seem too different than the Cryptons."

"Maybe. I guess if I could talk to them I'd know for sure." She sighed, and spoke very slightly more gently. "It's not that they're annoying. For the most part, they're fine. But, like...I don't fuckin' know what my favorite food is. I've eaten, like, three things in my whole life so far. I don't have anything interesting to say to these people."

"I know," Haku agreed. "I wish I could. I don't want to disappoint Luka, but I really don't have anything."

"Luka doesn't understand. I don't wanna bother trying to tell her why this isn't gonna work."

Haku thought that they could be friends with the Vocaloids, eventually, but she had no clue how they would get there or what it would entail.

"Do you think this is even a good idea?" Neru continued. "Like...reviving us, or whatever? That fuckboy Kaito had a point when he asked what anyone is s'posed to get out of this."

"Does anyone _have_ to get anything out of it?"

Haku raised her eyes just in time to make direct eye contact with Neru, and then immediately tore away again. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Neru knew better than she did. It wasn't a good idea to challenge anything she said.

But Neru didn't respond. She stood up and walked back over to the shelf of games. "I don't recognize most of this stuff...uh..." She pulled out a game case from a shelf close to her eye level and presented it to Haku. "Mario Party Five? You wanna try it out?"

Haku barely even knew what a video game was, unless it had something to do with Sonic, but she figured it couldn't hurt to play with Neru and try to ease the pointless tension she felt.

It ended up being a very fun session. Haku wasn't very good at any of the minigames, of course, but for some reason she liked seeing how proud and excited Neru got when she won something. Haku played as Boo and Neru played as Wario, against computer players playing as Princess Daisy and Toad on easy mode because Neru was at least humble enough to admit that she had zero experience and very slim chances of outsmarting a computer player on any higher of a difficulty. Also, she liked to make fun of Toad's voice.

It was cute. Haku didn't really understand why, but she thought it was cute.

They both became so immersed in the fun that they totally forgot three important details. One, they were still in a mansion with eleven other people, and they didn't even live here. Two, three of those people were children. Three, they were playing a children's party game at a high volume.

"Hey!" Haku nearly fell over from surprise as two tiny children barreled into the room. Ryuto was the one who crawled over right beside Haku. "You're playing Mario Party!"

"You should have invited us!" Rana pouted. She was also on her knees, staring longingly at the TV screen. "We play Mario Party all the time!"

Haku glanced around, in search of a missing head of blue hair. "Where's Una?"

"Una's playing cards with Kokone," Ryuto informed her. "She doesn't play video games. I don't know why."

"Yeah!" Rana crossed her arms. "What's funner than Mario Party?"

Neru, who'd been protectively gripping her controller and staring with wide eyes at the children, glanced over at the digital clock. It was three o'clock. "Shit, we've been playing for an hour already, huh?" she muttered. "And we're still only on turn twenty."

"How many turns did you pick?" asked Ryuto. "Did you do fifty? 'Cause fifty turns takes  _forever._ "

Neru paused the game to check. Sure enough, they were on turn twenty out of fifty. Before anyone could comment on her lack of foresight, they heard someone calling Haku and Neru from the door. It was Luka, leaning her back against the door frame and crossing her arms with an amused smile.

"You'd rather play video games than talk to people, huh?" Luka giggled. "Well, at least you have each other."

Haku felt herself begin to blush, but she didn't quite know why. Maybe she was just embarrassed about being called out by Luka.

"I'm not calling you out," Luka reassured them. "Lots of people are like that. There's no shame in it. I just want to show you something interesting."

They all looked back at the screen, still telling them that they had thirty more turns to go. Haku then looked at Rana and Ryuto, who were watching her curiously.

"Here." Haku handed Ryuto her controller. "You two can finish this game."

Neru sighed and gave up her controller to Rana. "You're Wario," she muttered, then stood up and looked back at the screen for just a second. "Well, I guess I won, since I'm in first place." She grinned down at Haku.

Haku really liked seeing Neru smile at her like that. They both walked over and followed Luka out of the room just as Ryuto began to complain, in shock, that he was in last place.

Haku expected to be forced into some kind of activity that involved socializing, but Luka wasn't leading them toward any sounds of chatter or bustle. Haku wasn't familiar with this mansion at all, so she had no way of knowing what it meant to be going upstairs to the second story. She noticed there was a balcony at their end of the hallway they ended up in. That was where Luka opened the door and invited the girls to walk out before her.

"Why do we need to be all the way over here?" Neru asked as she followed Haku. "Is this a secret or something?"

"Not exactly," Luka replied, closing the door. "It's...a little private, though."

Neru scoffed. "What, are  _we_ gonna have a threesome, now?"

 _"NO!"_ Luka practically screamed. The thought was startling to Haku, too, even though she knew it was just sarcasm. "You're, like, seventeen! I have  _morals,_ Neru!"

Haku knew Luka was probably feeling awkward now, and Neru was probably feeling awkward about accidentally making Luka feel awkward, so she directed her attention to the small table and chair on the balcony deck. The table had a small pink leather-bound book resting on top. "Is, um...is that yours, Luka?"

"That little book?" Luka's shoulders relaxed. "That's what I wanted to show you." She sat down in the white chair. A small wicker bench sat against the fence, which allowed Neru and Haku to sit down as well. They watched quietly as Luka gently opened up the small but thick book.

"Is it your diary?" Neru asked, suddenly much less annoyed.

Luka shook her head. "When Mother passed away, she left us letters and gifts. For me, she left this. This was...this was  _her_ diary."

She set the book down with the pages facing up, and pointed one of her pink fingernails to the date written on top. "It goes all the way back to two thousand and two. It's incredible how much history is in here."

Haku hesitantly felt the block of unturned pages with her index finger. It was large, but even then, the pages themselves were very small. "Did she use this for her whole life?" Haku wonderered. "Would she have had room to write all of that?"

"Actually, she wrote in several diaries," Luka explained. "This is the first one. There's larger ones that she used after this one. She gave those to me, too, but I'm keeping them shut away until I reach the end of this one."

"Is she okay with you telling us this?" Neru asked.

"Of course. Mother wrote in her letter that I'm free to show anyone what I've learned about her." Luka flipped through more pages. "I've been reading a lot of this when I'm alone. Mother actually stopped writing in her diary for a while. There's only a few entries from two thousand five. But it picks up again in two thousand six."

Haku quickly read the passage of upside-down writing visible to her:

_10/02/06_

_I've started building the body for CV01. I'm actually a little nervous now that I'm doing it for real. This is my first solo project. The people from Yamaha offered to help, but I refused. I wonder if that was a mistake._

_I think CV01's details might change later, but right now I think I'll set her age at 17. She'd be more of a pop diva than Meiko and Kaito. They've also offered to help, which kind of surprised me. I hope they don't see me as their boss. Meiko and Kaito are like my children. I want them to feel like they're my children too._

Neru, apparently, had no interest. "Why are you showing us this?"

"You don't know, Neru?" Luka raised her eyebrows. "You and Haku were built in late two thousand and six. This diary catalogs not just Mother's life, but also the development of all her creations. Like me, and like you two. I just thought it would be interesting to know the thought process behind your coding and such."

Haku was interested. After all, she'd been activated once before, right? She'd probably done things that she had no memory of. Now that she knew everything was written down, she wanted to know everything about herself.

But Neru reached a hand in front of Haku and flipped the book shut. "I don't like thinking of myself as a robot, you know," she said. "I don't want to think about shit like...everything about me being manipulated, you know?"

"Well, we all have complete autonomy," Luka patiently responded. "But I know what you mean. That sort of thing used to bother me, too." She stood and slipped the book back into the pocket of her gray denim shorts. "Well, that's all it was. I'm sorry if I was intimidating."

"Why would you be?" Haku asked, as she and Neru followed Luka back inside and downstairs.

Luka shrugged. "Some people see me that way. Like Chika."

"Shouldn't you be friends by now?" Neru was on her phone again, but still occasionally looking up at the other girls.

"Oh, of course. She's just, uh..." As they approached the living room, Luka cleared her throat. "Chika?" she called.

Chika, who had been daintily painting her toenails on the sofa, practically fell over, smering black nail polish on her foot as she raised a hand to her chest, then immediately sat upright to try to retain a sense of dignity. "Yes, Luka?"

Luka, obviously stifling a giggle, waved her hand casually. "I just wanted to let you know that I have some nail polish remover in the car if you need it."

Chika was wearing pale foundation, so her blush was very visible. "Er...no, thank you, Luka. I just bought a bottle of nail polish remover yesterday afternoon, so we have quite enough in the bathroom."

Gackpo was reading a book in the armchair, but the book apparently wasn't immersive enough to keep him from softly laughing at Chika.

"Leave me be, Gackpo," Chika scolded. "I was startled, that's all.

Gackpo didn't bother looking at her. "Luka's more open than you think she is, Chika. I'm sure she would be willing to try going on a date with you."

 _"It's not like that!"_ Chika shrieked, her whole face glowing red. She promptly stood up and gathered everything into a small black purse. She strutted off, declaring that she would find some peace in her charging room.

Gackpo only laughed again and shook his head. "It's been decades," he mused, "and she  _still_ acts so prideful. I suppose we aren't complete without our flaws."

Neru clapped her phone shut to flatly reply, "You're kind of a douche."

"Oh,  _shit!"_ Lily suddenly appeared from what seemed to be the kitchen. "One day old and she  _already_ tells it like it _is!"_

Gumi quickly appeared beside her and grasped her hand. "Oh, there they are...did they come out just to be mean to Gackpo?"

"We were just talking to Luka," Haku replied. "I didn't know anyone would be in here."

"Well, it  _is_ the living room," Lily pointed out, releasing Gumi's hand to embrace her body. "Where all the living happens."

The girlfriends released each other and approached them. Everyone was now ignoring Gackpo, which worked out for him, because he really just wanted to sit there and read his book.

"Are those your concert outfits?" Gumi asked. Her cheeks were still very rosy. Maybe they were always that way.

"We're not Vocaloids," Haku reminded her. "We don't have concerts. These are just the clothes Neru and I picked out when we were born."

"Yeah," Neru added, "we didn't get anything else. It's a good thing I know how to not piss myself or anything."

"You should go shopping for more clothes when you get the chance." Gumi adjusted her glasses, round with thick, hot pink frames. "These are cosmetic glasses I got on my first shopping trip. I wear them every day that I don't wear my goggles." She gestured down to her white T-shirt, adorned with a picture of cartoonish carrots. "I got this shirt a long time ago, too. I think it's really important for you to get clothes to be comfy in and express yourself outside of concerts."

Haku could definitely admit that she'd had pretty bad foresight when deciding to just let her breasts practically hang out of her exposing top. Now that she thought about it, she was always at risk of having her nipples be out without warning.

"I think I'd like that," she decided, then looked over at Neru, who was on her phone again. "Um...you wouldn't mind going shopping with me, would you...?"

"I guess," Neru replied. "I mean...I should at least get more than one pair of panties."

"It'd be cool if Gumi and I could go with you," Lily said. She paused to kiss Gumi on the head, which made her blush brighter. "We know our way 'round the local mall. But, I kind of promised her a date to the movies. They  _finally_ made another Animal Crossing movie, and I am  _not_ giving up the opportunity."

"It's fine," said Neru. "I'm sure Miku's gonna force us to go with her sooner or later anyway."

Gumi giggled at that. "Oh, of course she would. Especially when there's big sales. Good _luck!"_

They all sat down and conversed like that for a while longer, occasionally acknowledging Gackpo's presence. Chika eventually returned as well, and refused to acknowledge Gackpo until he apologized. He didn't.

Gumi and Lily were particularly easy to talk to, apparently. What was it about them? Maybe Haku was sort of like Gumi somehow, and Lily kind of reminded her of Neru with her mannerisms. And maybe there was just something fascinating about they way they held hands and touched each other...of course, Haku didn't ask about that. It felt too impolite, and way too weird. Eventually, the clock struck four-thirty before they knew it, and Luka said that it was time to go home.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Luka asked with a gentle smile as they walked back to the car. "I think you did well socializing."

Haku still felt like she'd been awkward, but then again, she was very new. People would probably expect her to be easily intrigued by little things like hand holding anyway. And, if nothing else, it was a lot easier to look at and talk with Neru now.

Neru was looking at her, too, with genuine interest in her bright yellow eyes. "You know if we have Mario Party at the Crypton house?"

Luka chuckled. "Yes, we have all the Mario Party games."

"Woo!" Neru pumped a fist, and Haku couldn't help but laugh softly.

Had she reacted to any of the Vocaloids the way she always seemed to react to Neru? She pushed the thought away. She hadn't had enough time to know that yet. Absolutely not. And as much as she learned today from the Internet Vocaloids, only one thing was for certain: she  _needed_ to redeem herself in the Mario Party 5 rematch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gumi/lily is here to pander to my girlfriend


	4. Nippongakkiko Megamall

Of course, as soon as anyone mentioned shopping, Hatsune Miku was all over the idea.

"We  _have_ to go to the megamall!" Miku declared, restlessly fidgeting over the sofa while Haku and Neru were trying very hard to play Mario Party 5. "Like, as soon as we can, okay? The sooner you get new clothes, the better!"

Kaito was in the room, too, and he looked up from his laptop to smirk at Miku. "You know that makes you sound like a total slave to capitalism, right?"

"You don't know  _anything!"_ Miku shouted. "You probably haven't changed your underwear in, like, three days!"

Kaito shrugged. "And what about it? It's not like we have odors."

"Not true! If we didn't have odors, Luka wouldn't smell so good all the time!"

"Doesn't she use perfume or something?"

Neru didn't care enough to listen to the rest of this argument because she was busy winning Fish Upon A Star, but she cared enough to glance up once Meiko entered the room.

"Miku," she said, "you really think you could go to the megamall again? After last time?"

"What..." Haku squirmed and bit her lip. "What happened last time?"

Miku giggled, which could hopefully reassure Haku there was no tragedy or anything. "You make it sound like I got mugged or something! It was just a little attention! You know I like attention!"

"Well, of course, I know _you_ like attention." Meiko crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, her gaze falling on Haku and Neru. "But if they're gonna go to the mall with you, they're gonna get that attention too. And you can't exactly speak for what they want."

Neru wasn't a fan of how Meiko was kind of, ironically, speaking for her, but she was right. Neru didn't know enough about...being alive, yet, to be comfortable with a mob of Miku fans crowding her. And there was no doubt that Haku, who looked like she was about to have a full-blown panic attack at the mere concept of a lot of attention, shared similar sentiments.

"I guess so," Miku sighed, deflating a little. "I just...think it would be fun."

"I'm sure you could go out on the town with them eventually, Miku." Meiko gave the diva an almost motherly smile. "And..." She looked back at Haku and Neru. "She's right, you should find other things to wear as soon as you can."

Neru nodded. "Yeah, probably. This skirt might be giving me a rash. Is that gonna go away, or do we need, like, a dermatologist engineer?"

Meiko laughed for a quick second and shook her head. "No, I'm sure Mom gave you two very durable skin. In any case, I think I'll take you out tomorrow."

Neru kind of expected Miku to call Meiko out for being a hypocrite, but on the contrary, Miku gasped in excitement. "That's so much smarter! You're the only one with brown hair, so you blend in more!"

"Mm-hm. But there's still no stopping people from mobbing anyone who lives in this house." Meiko then quickly waved her hands, as if shooing away her own words. "No, sorry, I shouldn't say that. I don't think Haku and Neru being here is public knowledge yet, so they should both be fine. But I've been here more than long enough to get recognized, so I'll still cover up a little, just to be on the safe side."

"So we're going out shopping tomorrow, with Meiko," Neru confirmed, exchanging a nod with Haku. She was starting to get sick of going outside, but she knew it was important. It was also kind of weird having to look at Haku's boobs all the time. She didn't like to think about it, and she figured Haku was probably self-conscious about the clothes she'd gotten herself stuck with.

In any case, Neru was looking forward to being able to dress like a normal human being on a regular basis.

* * *

This was apparently a megamall, but it could easily be an indoor city. It seemed like an endless stretch of linoleum flooring lined with brightly lit store entrances, some of them in different, vibrant colors. If there was a horizon, it was blocked by the crowds of people blurring together as they seamlessly traveled down their paths. They passed by Meiko without any sort of double taking.

"I come here all the time," Meiko reminded them. "But it obviously takes some getting used to. Just stick with me and you'll be fine."

It was kind of humiliating to tag along with Meiko like a lost little child, but realistically, Neru had no choice. Meiko was her only hope of not drowning in a sea of trampling bodies and overflowing shopping bags. She'd rather have this safety at the cost of her dignity.

Then again, she and Haku were brand new, and as much as Neru hated to admit it, she was short enough and flat-chested enough to probably be mistaken for a child at a distance. Still, she could become more recognizable eventually, especially since she was living with the world-famous Crypton Vocaloids. She kind of envied Meiko for having some sort of disguise.

Thinking this, Neru gently pulled her blue hair band down from the side of her head and shoved it into her shirt pocket.

Meiko raised her eyebrows at her. "Aren't you worried about tripping on all that hair?"

Neru shrugged, playing absentmindedly with her freed blonde hair. "Why would I be? Miku likes to let her hair down sometimes, doesn't she?"

"I guess." Meiko looked back ahead. "I wouldn't know what having long hair's like." She briefly ran her fingers through her brunette bobcut, though carefully, as to not disturb her gray cloche hat. "Obviously."

Eventually, Meiko led Neru and Haku to a boutique that seemed classy, but was relatively uncrowded. It had neatly arranged racks of all different kinds of clothes, as well as separate racks with shoes and accessories. This store looked like it had all different styles, and Neru had to admit the way everything was laid out was very pleasant to look at.

Meiko seemed to catch the attention of one of the employees, a young woman with bouncy pink hair. "It's good to see you, Miss Sakine," she greeted her softly.

Neru figured she had to be mistaking Meiko for somebody else, but Meiko smiled and waved anyway. "I hope it's not much of a bother...I don't know if you've heard, but we have two new friends living with us."

"Oh!" The woman smiled sweetly and clasped her hands together. "That's so exciting! And you want to help start up a wardrobe for them, right?"

Meiko nodded. "This is Yowane Haku and Akita Neru." She patted Neru's head, and Neru couldn't help cringing at the gesture.

 _I'm not your daughter,_ she thought irritably, but she knew it wouldn't be a very smart idea to interrupt this conversation.

It also was not a very smart idea to grab to two strangers by the arm without any warning and pull them to the fitting room at the back of the boutique, but apparently, only two percent of the human population had any common sense. This woman was in the other ninety-eight percent.

"My name's Macne Coco!" she cheered. "You're Vocaloids, right? Have you met my little sister Nana? Macne Nana? She's a Vocaloid too!"

"W-we--" Haku, bless her soul, was clearly trying to politely answer Coco's question, but she was also clearly uncomfortable.

Neru didn't totally understand her.

"We can  _walk,"_ Neru snapped at Coco, yanking her arm free. "We're not  _kids._ You can just lead us to the fitting room? And maybe also tell us why we're even going there?"

"Sorry!" Coco chuckled obliviously before freeing them. "You see, lots of artificial people like us start out with only their one outfit. Usually it's just what they wear at concerts and such. But we're still people, so those outfits are going to get dirty if people just wear them all the time. And it feels nice to wear different outfits!"

Again, Neru couldn't argue with that. By now, she found herself really regretting being stuck with her detached sleeves. They looked cool, but after a while they got uncomfortable. Her shorts were feeling more tight and irritating, too.

"This store has a partnership with several Vocaloid and UTAU families," Coco added. "Crypton's one of them. That's why I had to talk to Meiko as soon as I noticed she'd come in with you two, and why we'll be using the private fitting room around the back."

"Um...about that..." Haku was almost just shuffling her feet along, only glancing up a few seconds at a time. "Why did you call her Miss Sakine? Meiko doesn't have a last name. She's just Meiko."

"Oh, I know that!" Coco laughed again. It kind of got on Neru's nerves, how she just kept laughing at herself. It made her seem like kind of a freak. "I call her Miss Sakine when there's other customers in earshot, just in case she wants to avoid being recognized. It's like her code name."

Of course, they were by the fitting room by now. The boutique wasn't large enough for it to be a very long walk around the back. Coco told them to wait there before she scurried off back the way they came. While waiting, Neru crossed her arms and sighed before looking at Haku. She seemed as timid as she usually seemed to be, averting her eyes and fidgeting with her tie. 

"She didn't make you uncomfortable or anything, did she?" Haku's shoulders jumped when Neru asked her this. "Just 'cause...she seems like a little much, you know? You don't look like you're a fan of, like...too much activity."

Haku shuffled her feet a little. "She's...nice. To give us clothes to try. I don't want to ruin it by being...weird or anything."

"I dunno. She seems like the weird one, if you ask me."

Neru didn't want Haku to be uncomfortable, but she really had no idea exactly how to help that. Her first thought led her to reach for Haku's hand. Once her hand touched the chilly skin, she quickly pulled it away again. It didn't go unnoticed by Haku, of course. She gazed down at Neru with slightly widened red eyes and the faintest pink flickering from her cheeks.

"Sorry," Neru sighed, tightly crossing her arms. "I was gonna hold hands to, like, make you feel better, but I don't want Coco to think we're a couple or something."

Haku nodded silently and shuffled her feet. She looked a little embarrassed, but Neru had no time to interrogate her before Coco was scurrying back, pulling two rolling racks of clothes along behind her.

"Alright, ladies!" Coco smiled, possibly even more chipper than before. "You ready to try on outfits?"

* * *

They were using the same fitting room, but fortunately, there were a few private booths to undress. There was also plenty of room and plenty of time to figure out the outfits they'd be taking home. Coco said these outfits were free of charge as a part of the partnership, so there was no pressure to limit selections. Not that Neru cared that much, but she knew Haku probably would, so it was good to know.

The outfit Neru ended up changing into for the day was comfy and stylish. She kept her side ponytail, but she changed into a different skirt, a white miniskirt with black shorts attached. She really liked the skirt-and-shorts look. She wore a simple white tank top, but it was covered by a red track jacket. She aleo put on some more reasonably sized black socks with red and white sneakers.

Actually, this made her look like she unironically enjoyed sports, but whatever.

Neru hadn't been paying too much attention to Haku this whole time, but once she'd selected the clothes she wanted to take home, she took the time to observe what Haku had changed into, and it was jaw-dropping. 

Haku was wearing a very extravagant gothic dress. The skirt was violet, with big fancy ribbons on her waist. The ruffly skirt ended at her knees, leaving her legs visible in black fishnets and heels. Her cleavage was also visible through the black mesh attached to her lacy top that covered her shoulders. She was wearing a black collar and gloves with a red rose corsage, and a small black top hat headpiece thing with more lace and a little ribbon.

"Jesus, Haku." Neru raised her eyebrows. "You know that's gonna take, like, hours to take off, right?"

Haku was blushing, of course, probably because her tits were practically out and the mesh was the only thing giving her a sense of decency. "I-I...like how it looks," she softly stammered. "But...now that I'm actually wearing it, I don't think I could pull it off..."

"Like, as in...look good in it? 'Cause you totally look good in it, I'm just saying that it'll be kind of a hassle for you."

"Yeah..." Haku sighed and nodded. "I'll find something more...tame, then. To wear." She began to retreat to the booth she'd been in, but paused to turn back and blink at Neru in apparent bewilderment. "Do you, um...really think I look good?"

Neru nodded and crossed her arms. "Well, yeah. Like...I've kinda only been alive for, like, two days, I don't really care enough to be fake nice."

"Oh, um..." Of course, Haku blushed harder at this and squeaked "thanks" before fleeing behind the curtain.

Neru could be very easily convinced at this point that the blush lights in Haku's face were made to be extra sensitive.

Actually, now that this sentiment was in her head, she remembered how Haku's memory of her very first activation all those years ago had been wiped. It wouldn't have been too strange if Neru didn't still have her own memory. Had Watanabe just forgotten to wipe her?

_"01, did you try to mess with the TV again?" The woman sighed in exasperation as she approached 01, who had just looked up from the HDMI cord she'd plugged herself into. "Listen, sweetie, I promise, you won't be in danger if you're away from electronics for too long. Okay? Could you come help me make dinner?"_

_01 shook her head. "No, Watanabe Mirai. I have to be safe."_

Neru rolled her eyes at the pointless old script in her memory.  _Maybe she wanted me to know what a stupid, stubborn pissbaby I used to be. I guess Haku must've behaved pretty well, then, if it didn't matter enough for it to be in her memory._

After a few moments of aimless pondering, her thoughts went back to the diary, the one Luka had presented to them. Neru hummed. Maybe that was worth looking into after all, if she wanted to know what was up with Haku's memory. 

Was that really any of her business, though? It wasn't like Haku would have any reason to want to hide it, but it felt somehow intrusive.

Thinking about this so much was getting annoying, so Neru was extremely grateful when her attention was pulled back to Haku, stepping out in a much more reasonable outfit. It was a loose, ruffly black shirt, the kind that had a piece that draped over the shoulders, and white denim shorts, with a pair of black laced boots.

"Yeah," Neru observed approvingly. "That's a lot better. Looks really good, too."

"Really?" Haku smiled a little and nervously played with her hair.

"I mean, it's not like I'm a fashion expert. So if you really care that much about looking good, don't just take my word for it."

Neru honestly did admire Haku's fashion sense. But, again, it wasn't like she had high standards. Thankfully, when they exited with their wardrobe selections in tote bags, Coco and Meiko both seemed to approve of them. To Neru's relief, Meiko was able to lead them out of the boutique before Coco could rope them into another involuntary conversation.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Meiko offered, once they were back among the floods of pedestrians. "They've got a lot of good places in the food court."

Neru wouldn't mind a good snack, but she knew Haku _would_ mind being around crowds like this for much longer. Her eyes were glued to the floor, and Neru could see her sweating.

"I think we should just go home," Neru told Meiko. "'Cause, like...this mall's really big and I'm not in the mood to walk eight kilometers to the food court."

Meiko nodded with a friendly smile. "Got it. You don't wanna get overwhelmed, yeah? Let's head on home, then."

When Neru looked back at Haku to see her reaction, she noticed that, somehow, her hand ended up being around Haku's.

She gently but hurriedly released Haku and kept her hands close, hoping the blush filling her face wouldn't be a fire hazard and trying to avoid thinking about how pretty Haku looked right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is macne coco black my girlfriend insisted that i clarify which one it is for all you macne coco fans out there


End file.
